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MEMORIAL 



HON. WILLIAM KELLY 



MEMORIAL 



HON. WILLIAM KELLY 



PRESENTED TO THE 



§m U<wfe ^ tate §^rifliltttral j^owttj, 



ANNUAL MEETING, JANUARY 22, 1873, 

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1873 .- 



MARSENA R. PATRICK, 



EX-I'I!KSIl)i:\T. 



PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY. 



ALBANY: 

JOEL MUNSELL, PRINTER. 

1873. 



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At a meeting of the Executive Committee of the New 
York State Agricultural Society, held at its rooms in Al- 
bany, on the 13th February, 1872 : On motion of ex- 
President Gould, M. R. Patrick, ex-President of the 
Society, was requested to prepare a Memorial of the late 
ex-President Kelly, to be embodied in the Transactions 
of the Society for the current year. 

In accordance with this request the following paper 
has been prepared for the Transactions. 



MEMORIAL. 



Since our last annual meeting, many articles in relation 
to our deceased friend, the Honorable William Kelly, have 
appeared in the newspapers and journals of the day, resolu- 
tions of respect to his memory have been drawn with care 
by distinguished professors and scholars in the many insti- 
tutions of learning with which he was connected, and gen- 
tlemen renowned in the pulpit, at the bar, and in the halls 
of legislation, have given eloquent utterance to their admi- 
ration of his rare character. 

Yet, to those who have closely observed Mr. Kelly these 
many years,both at home and in the world,there has seemed, 
in all these glowing tributes to his memory, something 
wanting to render them complete — to present, in his full pro- 
portions, this modest, unassuming, but extraordinary man. 

And the reason of this will, perhaps, be understood, 
from the fact, that he moved in so many different spheres 
of action, each distinct from and seldom touching the other, 
he touched society at so many different and opposite points, 
that those who knew him well in one sphere, or came in 
contact with him from the one side only, caught but the 
lineaments developed in a single aspect and visible from 
their respective stand points. 

The painter may give true expression to the features as 
viewed from his own focus, but the sculptor alone can 
bring out, in fall relief, the perfect form that duplicates the 
model from whatever point his work is viewed. So in 
studying the character of William Kelly. We may gaze 



with pleasure and admiration at the beautiful photographs 
thrown off Ivy skillful artists and recognize their truthful- 
ness to him in certain aspects, but they reveal not the 
rounded fullness and rare symmetry of the man! 

"Who was William Kelly ? 

That " blood will tell," is an axiom that holds good in 
the human race, as in those lower animals whose pedigrees 
gentlemen of this society are accustomed to trace with rigid 
scrutiny, far back, to some ancestor of unusual vigor and 
excellence, that has transmitted his own strong points to 
his descendants. 

A hundred years ago, there lived in the little town of 
Bailieborough, county Cavan, in the north of Ireland, a 
family by the name of Kelly. They were not of the nobility, 
nor of the landed gentry, though they had resided for 
generations on their own lands, and were known as a family 
of sterling character, simple tastes, industrious habits, and 
firm adherents of the Scotch Presbyterian Church. 

One son, Robert, born in 17677'while yet a young man, 
engaged in the linen trade, and with a view to the exten- 
sion of that business, arranged for a partnership with two 
of his townsmen, brothers, by the name of James. The 
sudden death of the younger James, before the papers were 
signed, broke up the arrangement, and William James 
sailed for America. He settled in this city, (Albany) ac- 
cumulated a large fortune, and founded the James family, 
so well known to old Albanians. 

Robert Kelly continued in business but a short time 
when the Irish patriots began to band themselves together 
for one more effort in behalf of their native land; an effort 
associated in the mind of every American with the name 
of Emmet. In those movements young Kelly took an act- 
ive part, lie was a leading spirit in the preparations that 
were making for the conflict, and was enrolled as an officer 
of the Revolutionary forces ; but before those preparations 



were, in any sense, matured, he was denounced to the go- 
vernment authorities, who ordered his instant arrest as a 
traitor. "A faithful friend gave him notice of the approach 
of soldiers sent to secure him, barely in time for him to 
make his escape from his father's house. That hurried 
adieu was the last he gave to his early home; for, satisfied 
that the authorities had such information as would ensure 
his arrest and conviction if he remained in Ireland, he felt 
that he could do nothing more for his country, and so, re- 
solved to seek for liberty in another land. With difficulty 
he succeeded in reaching a seaport and getting on board 
a vessel bound to New York, where he arrived in the year 
1796." ' 

Very soon after his arrival in this country he engaged 
in business, having sufficient capital to establish himself in 
the linen trade, with which he was already acquainted; but 
before the close of '97, we find him at the head of a house 
doing a large business in jobbing and dry goods, his first 
partner, Stewart Mollan, being, like himself, an Irish- 
man. 

In that house were bred up some of the most successful 
merchants of the next generation. A third partner was taken 
into the firm and, after a time, Mollan retired. The firm 
was, from that time, known as Kelly & Morrison, and ex- 
tended its business over the South and South-west, being fa- 
vorably known during the war of 1812-15 as a very safe, 
honorable and patriotic house. When Congress, on the 18th 
February 1813, passed an act authorizing the borrowing of 
sixteen millions of dollars, proposals were advertised, but 
times were hard, and less than four millions were offered. 
Finally, the patriotic merchants of New York came for- 
ward, headed by the famous Jacob Barker, and put their 
names to a subscription for raising the necessary amount. 



See letter of William Kelly to Edgar S. Van Winkle. 



6 

On that subscription the names of Kelly & Morrison are 
down for twenty thousand dollars. 

After a very successful business career of more than 
twenty years, Mr. Kelly retired, with a handsome fortune, 
in 1810, at a little more than fifty years of age. He had 
never returned to Ireland, but was married in this country, 
in 1803, to an Irish lady, who died before his retirement, 
leaving three sons and an infant daughter. Some years 
after her decease Mr. Kelly was married to a Mrs. Parr, 
an English lady, whose maiden name was Cauldwell; one 
of a family that came to this country about the time of the 
Birmingham riots. The Cauldwells being Dissenters — 
Baptists — were roughly handled during the riot, and their 
house sacked by the mob. 

This union was productive of important results to both 
families, in their social and domestic life, and in their reli- 
gious and business associations. 

The Kellys had been Presbyterians for generations — 
Scotch Presbyterians — and Robert Kelly, with his family, 
were attendants upon the old Wall Street Church. Their 
associations with the Cauldwells, gradually brought them 
into relations of intimacy with the Baptists, whose views 
were ultimately adopted, and the sons and daughters, in 
after years, became communicants in that church. 

From 1819 until 1828, Mr. Robert Kelly was not in busi- 
ness, and his children were all in school, with the exception 
of John, the oldest, horn in 1804, who had decided to become 
a merchant, and in 1822, at seventeen years of age, had been 
placed in the counting-house of the late dailies McCall. 
The announcement of William, not long after, that he, too, 
would be a merchant, induced the father once more to re- 
sume business, solely for the purpose of establishing these 
two sons in trade. Accordingly, in 1823, he returned to 
the old house in Pearl street, and look his accustomed seat 
in the counting-room, as managing partner of the firm of 



Kelly, Morrison & Clason, though Morrison soon after re- 
tired. 

Under their father's careful eye, the two boys were train- 
ed to business. Not only were the old customers of former 
years brought back to the house, but new, and widely ex- 
tended connections were formed in all the Southern States. 
John was destined to the foreign trade and trained accord- 
ingly. William was to be the home manager and general 
director. For two years he applied himself to the study 
of trade, with all the assiduity and sound judgment for 
which he was, even then, remarkable, and before he was 
eighteen years of age, seemed to be master of his profes- 
sion in all its details. 

In 1825 a terrible blow fell upon these sons and upon 
their family, in the death of their father. He bequeathed 
to his sons the valuable business connections he had estab- 
lished, and, by the provisions of his will, enabled his sons, 
in spite of their minority, to carry forward the plans already 
projected. Clason retired very soon after their father's 
death, and these boys were left to stand, or fall, alone. 

Let us pause here to take a view of the situation and of 
the preparation of these young men to master it, as the 
clear head and strong hand of their father had mastered it. 
That father, as is evident, was no common man. He is de- 
scribed by one who knew him intimately, as " a man of 
inflexible integrity, great business capacity and remarkably 
kind in his intercourse with those in any way associated 
with him, very energetic, and prompt almost to sternness. 
He showed especial interest in the success of young mer- 
chants, some of whom still speak of him with grateful re- 
collections." By a lady, who was very intimate in his family 
when young, he is spoken of as " a warm-hearted, genial 
man — very frank and hearty — stouter than Mr. William, 
who of all the sons most resembled him in person — a very 
Irishman in his looks and bearing." 



The late James McCall, himself a prominent merchant, 
was a clerk for Mr. Robert Kelly, and in speaking of his 
more distinguished sons, AVilliam and Robert, said of them. 
" Their strong character, sound judgment, indomitable per- 
severance and unsullied integrit}-, they inherited from their 
father. He was a remarkable man ; and as I look back 
over the host of business men I have known in this city, 
(.New York), I think Robert Kelly was the best merchant 
I ever knew. Prompt, resolute, energetic and inflexibly 
just, in all matters of business, he was at the same time 
kind, generous, and took a hearty interest in all that con- 
cerned his clerks and employees, watching over them while 
they remained in his service, and standing by them when 
they engaged in business for themselves." Mr. McCall 
added, " I am certain that I never felt so proud in my life 
as when Mr. Kelly entered my counting-room, one day, 
and walking up to me, said, in his short, almost stern,way : 
' James ! I made you a merchant ! I think you are a good 
merchant ! I ,want you to take my son, John, and make a 
merchant of him ! Train him as I did you ! ]STp favors 
because he is my son !' " 

Trained up in such a school, the sons could hardly fail to 
make good business men, but a nearer view of their home 
life, as near a view as is permissible in a paper like this, 
will reveal other and powerful influences that impelled 
them to an earnest life. 

John Kelly had left school for the counting-room at 
about seventeen years of age. He was now a young gen- 
tleman twenty years of age, of buoyant spirits, pleasing 
address, cultivated taste, and evinced great facility in the 
acquirement of modern languages, being especially regard- 
ed as a very perfect master of French. William Kelly, 
born on the 4th of February, 1807, and a little more than 
two years the junior of .John, was, perhaps, more staid and 
sober in his temperament than his older brother: a closer 



9 

student, a more thorough scholar in all that he attempted 
to master, a born mathematician, and one of the most rapid 
accountants then known in the city. In Wheaton school, 
Chatham Square, he had had all the advantages that per- 
tained to the breadth of the English high school. 

Robert, born in December, 1808, and almost two years 
younger than William, was the student, par excellence, and 
at the time of his father's death, had been two years in 
Columbia College. Trained at first in the classical school 
of the learned and eccentric John Walsh, his final prepa- 
ration for college was under the immediate direction of the 
celebrated blind teacher, Nelson, then regarded as the most 
successful instructor in the city. Robert Kelly was Nel- 
son's favorite and succeeded in passing an examination 
before he was fourteen years of age, that placed him at the 
head of his class in Columbia College ; a position that he 
retained throughout the entire collegiate course. 

To these brothers their father had not only bequeathed 
his property and his business, but he had bequeathed to 
their loving care and gentle guardianship, their second 
mother and her daughter, and his own young daughter, 
their only sister by blood, but not the only sister in their 
affections. 

In that old home in Cliff street, now a part of the great 
commercial house of Phelps, Dodge & Co., might then be 
found a family group, united by bonds stronger even than 
the ties of blood — the unity of thought, of principle and 
of purpose, in the attainment of one common object. 
Earnestly engaged in their commercial pursuits during the 
hours of business, the leisure hours of these young men 
were largely given to the cultivation of their minds, under 
the instruction of private tutors, by reading, and by what- 
ever other agencies seemed to them most judicious. 

While mingling in society sufficiently to be at home in 
its best circles, their lives were regarded as too valuable to 
2 



10 

be frittered away in idle drawing-rooms and gay saloons, 
where fashion alone presided. Literally recognizing God 
in all their ways, their prosperity was His care, and they 
grew, continually, in favor with Him and with their fellow- 
men. 

Shortly after their father's death a trifling circumstance, 
resulting in a momentary mortification, led William Kelly 
to assume the care of the financial department of the firm, 
and to resolve that they would never allow themselves to 
be placed where it would be necessary to ask a favor that 
might possibly be refused. From that time forth, provi- 
sion was made, long in advance, for every moneyed want 
of the firm ; so that when the sky was most clouded and 
money most difficult to obtain, they could lend, but never 
borrowed. This became the habit of the house, and whilst 
with prudent liberality they granted every reasonable fa- 
vor, they were never known as borrowers of money. 
They asked no endorsement and gave none. If a business 
friend came to them in distress, they examined his affairs, 
and if satisfied of his solvency, they loaned him the cash 
that could be spared, but no endorsement. And this was 
William Kelly's inflexible rule to the end of life. 

Knowing that on account of their youth they must do a 
safe business, they early overhauled their large list of cus- 
tomers, which was made up from all the southern stales. 
The moral character of each individual on the list was can- 
vassed and marked, as well as his pecuniary ability and 
standing. From this old list a new one was framed, exclud- 
ing therefrom every person of known immoral tendencies, 
without a i iv reference whatevertohis financial standing and 
ability, adopting it as a standing rule of the house, "to 
sell, for cash, to all comers, but to encourage business and 
keep accounts with no man whose moral character was 
doubtful." 

Guided by such rules as these, backed up by extraordi- 



11 

nary business capacity, industry and perseverance, these 
young men, before the close ot 1826, had established the re- 
putation of their house on a foundation solid as the rock, 
and destined never to be shaken while they guided it. 

Robert had graduated in the summer of that year, at the 
head of his class, being then a little more than seventeen 
years of age. His father had left to him, as " to each of 
his children, a handsome sum, but not enough to maintain 
them, separately, in the style of living to which they had 
been accustomed; it was therefore necessary that some 
profession or business should be chosen by Robert which 
was likely to be remunerative." A letter of William Kelly, 
written nearly seventeen years ago, describes the process. 
He says : 

"A council of the young brothers, aged seventeen, nine- 
teen and twenty-one was accordingly held to decide what 
Robert should do. The course of thought in the deli- 
beration was much in this wise : ' Robert is qualified 
for attempting any of the learned professions, and would 
in time no doubt be successful ; but it will require many 
years ; and he will certainly have reached middle life, per- 
haps old age, before he accumulates such fortune as will 
give him the command of his own time. On the other 
hand he is equally qualified for commercial life, where in 
all probability he would, within ten or fifteen years, ac- 
quire all the money he needed, and thereafter might dis- 
pose of his time as he thought proper.' The brothers 
urged him to join them in business, and assured him of 
their intention to place him on an equal footing with them- 
selves. He did not hesitate long but entered the counting- 
house." 

After an apprenticeship of some eighteen months with 
his brothers, he became a partner in 1828, under the firm 
name of "J. & W. Kelly & Co." John went abroad, and 
spent the most of his time in Europe as manager of the 



12 

foreign department, to which he had been trained, and for 
which he was admirably fitted. To Robert was committed, 
in large degree, the home business, the supervision of 
clerks, and the carrying out of details in the various de- 
partments. Quoting again from William Kelly's letter, 
he says of Robert : " By the establishment of just and 
inflexible rules in every department, he acquired for him- 
self and the house a reputation for integrity and fairness 
never excelled." 

The older brother being so much abroad, "William Kelly 
had become almost from the first, virtually the head of the 
house, and managing partner of the firm. 

A very large business was now transacted by this firm, 
and as their customers were of their own selection, so to 
speak, under wisely established rules, they made scarcely 
any losses by bad debts. The fact that a customer in per- 
son, selecting his own goods, had not the slightest advantage 
over a correspondent who might order them, trusting to the 
honor, skill and taste of the house to select for him, secured 
to them not only as business, but as personal friends, a large 
class of merchants who always dreaded the fatigue, the ex- 
pense, and the loss of three or four weeks time, which 
every trip to New York cost them in the old staging days, 
all which was saved to them through this inflexible rule of 
the house. 

The character of the gentlemen doing business with the 
Kcllvs, and the immunity of their house from loss by had 
debts, soon attracted the attention of several old merchants, 
a few of whom after discussing the matter, joined the 
Kcllvs in employing first class business men, thoroughly 
reliable, to travel in the States where their customers resid- 
ed, and ascertain the standing, character and responsibility 
of the mercantile men in those States. The benefits re- 
sulting from such exact information, caused others to join 
this little association of merchants, and thus was laid the 



1o 
O 

foundation of that great Commercial Agency, which, to- 
day, employs one hundred thousand agents and gives the 
standing of every business house on the Continent. l 

In the course of four or five years of successful trade, 
the brothers found themselves in a condition that enabled 
them to devote more time to their personal and domestic 
affairs. They accordingly built the fine house, No. 10 
on Washington Square, and in the spring of 1833 took pos- 
session of it, making it their home until the breaking up 
of the family in the spring of 1842. ISTor did they, in their 
prosperity, forget the claims that education has upon 
wealth. Among the first subscriptions that were made to 
the library fund of Brown University after Dr. Wayland's 
accession to the Presidency, was that of J. & W. Kelly & 
Co., in 1832, noticeable mainly from the fact that these very 
young merchants, all between the ages of twenty-one and 
twenty-five, were even then, taking an interest in the cause 
to which so much of their later lives were devoted. 

Said a distinguished clergyman, when speaking of Wil- 
liam Kelly a few weeks ago, " When he was twenty-two 
or twenty-three years of age, Mr. Kelly took me by the 
hand and gave me counsel; he advised me to prepare for 
a theological seminary and furnished me the money for my 
preparation ; he sustained me while I was in the seminary 
and when I graduated he sent me a suit of clothes in which 
to make my public appearance ; and when I was ordained 
he said quietly, to me, that a little money to start me in my 
profession would not be amiss, and placed a hundred dol- 
lars in my hand." 



1 When Arthur Tappan failed in 1887, having a very wide business ac- 
quaintance himself, he determined to make it available. On his applica- 
tion, these lists were turned over to him and he established a mercantile 
agency, associating with him in the business his brother Lewis, and after- 
wards, Benjamin Douglas. When the Tappans went out, the agency was 
carried on by " B. Douglas & Co.," who transferred it to " Dun, Boyd & 
Co.," former clerks in the agency. 



14 

Another clergyman says, " My entire support in semi- 
naryand while preparing for the ministry was assumed by 
William Kelly, who directed me to draw upon him when- 
ever I wanted money ; but during all that period I never 
had an opportunity to mention my wants, or remind him 
of his engagement. I was on his mind and his check was 
forwarded before I could feel that it was needed." 

The same statement, almost literally, comes from a 
Rev. D. D., now a professor in one of our Universities. 
He says that Mr. Kelly, when a young man, found him in 
a ISTew York hat establishment, and very soon after, had 
him in a course of preparation for college and theological 
seminary. Many others have come forward, within the 
last year, to acknowledge like obligations to him in his 
early manhood, in regard to which his own lips had ever 
been sealed. 

Nor were these benefactions and gifts of gold from that 
family, the only exponents of their desire to follow the Mas- 
ter's teachings ; but the poor and the afflicted were sought 
out, their wants relieved and themselves placed in posi- 
tions to secure a comfortable support through their own 
exertions. The orphans, and those who had none to help 
them, found in that family sympathy, counsel and strong 
arms both to sustain and defend them. In the Savings 
I '>anks, in the Colored Orphan Asylum and in the Deaf and 
Dumb Asylum, William Kelly felt a deep interest, and 
took a seat in their boards, while his brother Robert threw 
his wonderful energies into the work of reclaiming and 
educating the vicious, ill-trained, and ignorant children of 
the <it v, going early into the board of managers of the 
I [ouse of Refuge and being its President for many years. 

By the great lire of the 16th of December 1835, the es- 
tablishment of the Ki'llysin Pearl street was burned to the 
ground, and they were heavy losers, the insurance compa- 
nies, which it was then supposed could not fail, being una- 



15 

ble to pay the losses ; but William Kelly, with his usual 
foresight, and while the fire was raging, announced to his 
neighbors, with quiet decision, that there could be no hope 
for relief from the insurance companies, since a fire which 
burned over such an extent of territory, swept away the 
theory of insurance and brought an amount of loss at one 
time which the wealthiest companies could not pay. And 
while they, in the firmness of their faith, smiled at his rea- 
soning, he reasoned further ; that it was now winter, the 
present limited supply of manufactured brick could not 
be increased until another season and could not suffice to 
rebuild these many stores, in which, if any where, must be 
regained the wealth the flames were then destroying ; and 
so, before daylight, he had despatched his agents along the 
Sound, to purchase all the brick required to rebuild his 
warehouses. By this promptness, he was early in the re- 
sumption of business and soon made up, in still more act- 
ive trade, the losses of that night. With the same fore- 
sight and promptness he might easily have engaged all the 
existing stock of brick, to re-sell at double their price to 
his fellow-sufferers, but no such transaction ever stained 
the career of William Kelly. 

Having thus re-established and largely increased their 
mercantile business after the fire, and having acquired suf- 
ficient wealth to satisfy their reasonable desires, the ques- 
tion as to a proper time for retiring from active commercial 
pursuits, began to be discussed, when an event occurred 
which hastened the fulfilment of a resolution already 
formed. It was the death of the oldest brother, John, in 
1836, at the age of thirty-two years. He had never married, 
and for many years had spent the greater portion of his 
life in Europe. He is spoken of as a very accomplished 
gentleman, a favorite in society and greatly endeared to his 
brothers and the home circle by his amiable disposition, 
warm affections and generous character. 



16 

The surviving brothers, "William and Robert, closed up the 
affairs of their house in the same year, and having estab- 
lished a new firm, of young men who had grown up in 
their employ, turned over to them the business so long 
conducted by Robert Kelly and his sons. From that time, 
the brothers never engaged in any business for them- 
selves, or for their own account, having withdrawn from 
its absorbing cares, not to live in idleness, but with the 
determination to devote their lives to pursuits that would 
more directly benefit their fellow men. At the time of 
their retirement neither of these brothers had completed 
his thirtieth year. 

More closely tied to the counting-room than either of his 
brothers, from his position as managing partner, William 
Kelly had never been abroad. He therefore availed him- 
self of this first exemption from the absorbing cares of 
commercial life since leaving school at sixteen, to cross the 
ocean, and, especially, that he might visit his aged grand- 
father, at the old homestead in county Cavan, Ireland. 
The whitehaired patriach of almost ninety years, was over- 
come with his emotions, as lie embraced this noble son of 
his exiled Robert — the very counterpart in person and in 
years, of his patriot boy, who, forty years before, received 
his last hurried embrace as he fled for life from this same 
home. 

Mr. Kelly returned to New York just before the finan- 
cial crash of 1837, and during the next three, or four years, 
was engaged, with his brother, in winding up their own 
affairs, (which required time, as the business of the whole 
continent was deranged,) and in steadying by their coun- 
sels and their money, the mercantile houses of their friends 
both South and North, especially several young firms whom 
they had encouraged to go into business, and would not 
I it Tinit to fail. 

An eminenl merchant of that day, who himself wea- 



17 

thered the gale nobly, speaking of certain firms in 1858, 
said, " the fact, once known, that the Ivellys were guiding 
and directing and backing them, gave them such a stand- 
ing as to dispel all fears as to their solvency and so they 
were enabled to ride out the storm. But for those boys," 
(he had known them from their childhood,) " many a stout 
merchant of to-day would have been a drummer, or clerk- 
ing it since '37." * It was during this period that Mr. 
William Kelly travelled, quite extensively, in the Southern 
States, where he had a very wide acquaintance, and availed 
himself of every opportunity to gain correct information 
in regard to southern society and southern institutions. 

It had been his intention to take up his residence in the 
country, immediately on retiring from mercantile life ; but 
the disasters of '37, and the results following, taken in con- 
nection with the fact, that both he and his brother were 
leading lives of usefulness where they then lived, had 
hitherto prevented him from carrying out this design. 
The predilections of his brother Robert were rather for the 
city, where his studies could be pursued to greater advan- 
tage, and where he could better carry out his ideas in re- 
gard to popular education, to which cause he was already 
devoted. It was long before the family could bring their 
minds to break ap the home in Washington Square, where 
they had spent so many happy years, and from which none 
had gone forth save that brother whom they had followed 
to his narrow house in 1836 ; but in the autumn of 1841, 
arrangements were finally made to leave the city in the 
spring following. 

After very carefully searching the country within a hun- 
dred miles of New York, Wm. Kelly, with the approval 
of the lady who was to become his wife, purchased the 



1 An examination of the books of Wm. & Robt. Kelly, kept in the old 
Pearl street office until within the last few years, would go far to confirm 
this statement. 

3 



18 

estate known as Ellerslie, in the town of Rhinebeck, on 
the Hudson, ninety miles above N"ew York and fifty miles 
below Albany. In March, 1843, Eobert Kelly was married 
to Miss Arietta A. Hutton, daughter of George Hutton 
Esq. of Grasmere on the Hudson, a mile or two above El- 
lerslie, and in April following, William Kelly was united 
in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Parr, already connected 
with the family by the marriage of her mother to Robert 
Kelly senior in 1819. 

Immediately after the marriage of his brother, Robert 
Kelly and his wife sailed for England, the house in Wash- 
ington Square was vacated and William Kelly removed 
with the entire establishment, to the property he had pur- 
chased on the Hudson, the mansion having been already 
fitted up for his permanent residence, — not his summer re- 
sort, but his home, in the fullest sense of that homely and 
most expressive Saxon word, HOME ! ' 

The return of Mr. Robert Kelly, with his family, from 
Europe, after an absence of a little less than two years, 
afforded to Mr. William Kelly an opportunity to go abroad 
with his wife and sister, his brother residing at Ellerslie, 
meantime, with their mother, taking charge of the estate 



1 This cslatc, on which .Mr. Kelly resided thirty years save one, and 
which has become so widely known, was originally patented to Abraham 
Kipp about the veal' 1737, whose son, of the same name, established a 
ferry across the Hudson many years before the war of the Revolution, 
the " Landing " at Rhinebeck being on his property. In the old records, 
the estate is called " Ellerslie," but by whom it was so named, is uncer- 
tain. "In is) 1 the late Maturin l/i\ ingston purchased the property called 

Ellerslie, containing three hundred acres of land, lying between the stage 

road and the river, for the sum of live thousand dollars." 

Mr. Livingston had married the daughter and only child of Gen. Mor- 
gan Lewis, who had been Governor of the State in 1804-7, and resided at 
Staatsburg, five miles below Ellerslie. Immediately following his pur- 
chase, Mr. Livingston erected the present mansion, from plans drawn by 
his wife, who selected the site, noi only for the widely extended and un- 
rivalled views thai it commanded, but also, because she could look down, 
from it, upon the Lome of her girlhood, her father's house. Hut it was 
noi ber destiny to become the mistress of Ellerslie, the declining health 



19 

and carrying forward the planting, with the other improve- 
ments marked out and agreed upon. 

After spending some months in England and Ireland, 
Mr. ¥ra, Kelly and family travelled on the continent, 
using their time to the best advantage, until the winter 
of '44 or spring of '45 when they returned to Ellerslie, 
and Mr. Robert Kelly, with his family, took up his resi- 
dence in the city, which was thenceforth his home while he 
lived. 

Thus far, these brothers had led a life, so to speak, in 
common ; in all things moving and acting together. To 
speak of the one, was, of necessity, to speak of the other. 
In the language of the street, "they had retired from busi- 
ness," whereas, they had only been acquiring the means to 
ena'ao-e in the real business of their lives. 

Robert Kelly, while a merchant, had spent the evenings 
of eight months in every year as a student. To his tho- 
rough knowledge of the classics — for as a Greek scholar 
especially he had no supeiior — he added the Hebrew, and 



of her father and his advanced years, making it obligatory upon his only 
child to remain with him. 

The property was therefore sold, in 1816, Mr. James Thompson being 
the purchaser. He completed the building, and resided there until his 
death ; leaving it to bis son James, after having added a hundred acres to 
bis original purchase. James Thompson, the son, married a daughter of 
Harry Walter Livingston and went to Europe, where he resided a number 
of years. While in Europe, about the year 1827, Mr. Thompson sold the 
property to a Mr. Henry Warwick, who held it some three years, but owing 
to his pecuniary embarrassments, was compelled to make an assignment 
of his property to W. B. Piatt Esq. of Rhinebeck, by whom it was con- 
veyed to William Kelly in 1841. 

The property thus purchased by Mr. Kelly, embraced four hundred 
acres of land, for which he paid Mr. Piatt $42,000, and expended about 
$5,000, additional, in perfecting his title and clearing the property of all 
incumbrances. To get the estate in reasonable order after many years of 
neglect, to stock it and get the grounds into such condition as to produce 
crops, and to get his new business so systematized as to be under his per- 
fect control, was the work of 1842 and the summer of 1843, by the end of 
which time he began to feel himself at home as a farmer, and in some 
degree, master of Ins business. 



20 

then became a master of the French, Spanish, Italian and 
German languages. He was one of the founders of the 
Greek Club, and of the " Column," afterwards merged in 
" Century Club," of New York city, a trustee of the 
New York University, of the Madison University, and 
subsequently of the University of Rochester. lie was a 
trustee of the Clinton Hall Association, of the Mercantile 
Library Association, of the New York Society Library 
(being chairman of its board), Vice President of the Bank 
of Savings for Merchants' Clerks, President of the board 
of managers of the House of Refuge, President of the 
Board of Education " and might be regarded as the father 
of the Free Academy of the city of New York, the crown- 
ing glory of its free school system." At the time of his 
death he was Chamberlain of the City and a Regent of the 
University of the State. Was this a life of " elegant lei- 
sure and learned ease ?" 

William Kelly had chosen a different field, in some re- 
spects, for the attainment of the same general objects. And 
first, the improvement and embellishment of his property, 
occupied all the time its owner could spare from those du- 
ties of a public character which always demanded the 
larger portion of his time, and which he regarded as his 
legitimate business. 

Gradually, and as he was able to carry out a thorough 
system of cultivation, over a wider domain, the estate was 
enlarged by the purchase of adjoining property, until it 
covered more than a thousand acres. In his last visit to 
England, he had looked at the various breeds of cattle 
then coming more prominently before the public, and not 
long after his return, he began to build up a herd of Short 
Horns; not for the purpose of entering the lists as a 
breeder, but, partly from his love of beautiful as well as 
profitable domestic animals to graze upon his own broad 
acres, and partly to improve, in a noiseless way, the native 



21 

stock of his less wealthy neighbors, by introducing into 
their herds the best Short Horn blood then known. 

In the erection of his farm houses, barns and other struc- 
tures, Mr. Kelly was his own architect, drawing out his 
own plans with a skill, taste, and sound judgment, seldom 
combined in the same individual. Indeed, the ten or a 
dozen barns on the property, from the large home barn, 
covering, with its deep and ample sheds, half an acre of 
ground, to the thirty and forty foot buildings scattered 
over the place for the convenient housing of the large hay 
crop — the great staple of the farm — all are uniform in 
their style, plain and simple, with a very few tasteful orna- 
ments, unexpensive, but striking in their character, and 
producing a remarkably agreeable architectural eifect. 

An example of this style of building may be seen by 
travellers on the rail, or the river, at the private wharf 
one mile below Rhinecliff station, where stands the fine 
storehouse erected by Mr. Kelly, mainly for the purpose of 
receiving, baling, and shipping the hay crop of 700 or 800 
tons annually. 

At that wharf he received his manures, from the stables 
of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company across the 
river, from the refuse of the Onondaga Salt Works and 
from whatever sources he could obtain them. These were 
used, almost exclusively, as top dressings for meadows, 
very little grain being raised on the farm, it being an 
object to keep the entire property, as seen from the man- 
sion, roads and drives, " dressed in robes of living green " 
so far as possible. Yet the farm proper, netted a very 
handsome sum yearly, the accounts being kept distinct 
from those of the pleasure grounds, gardens, wooded 
plantations and preserves, all the books being kept as accu- 
rately as those of the merchant. 

Of a different order of buildings from those before 
named, but not less perfectly adapted to, and in keeping 



22 

with the objects for which they were designed, are those 
admirable structures for flowers and fruits — the orchid 
house, conservatory, green house, grapery, orchard house 
and garden house, filled to overflowing with the rarest and 
most beautiful plants to be found on the globe, with fruits 
the most delicious and perfect that cultivation has yet 
achieved. 

But it is not within these structures that the highest 
forms of beauty, or the most exquisite developments of the 
master's tastes are found. They are found in all the Eden- 
like surroundings and appointments of that home, unique 
and matchless in its character among the homes of our 
land ; — in the exquisite combinations of water, wood and 
broad expanse ; — in the limitless profusion of flowers, and 
fruits, and never ending verdure; — in those velvet lawns 
forever green ; — in bright glimpses of the noble river 
teeming with its snowy sails and smoking steamers, while 
along its shores rush the thundering railway trains loaded 
with the population and wealth of a State ; — in those 
charming, ever-changing vistas, stretching away through 
the dense wild wood; — in those triumphs of the florists 
and the gardeners' skill that almost startle the wanderer 
as he comes upon them in some sequestered nook among 
the oaks and evergreens; — and, not the least, those dis- 
tant openings, through the grand old trees, to catch the 
gorgeous sunsets beyond the western hills — all, all seem 
parts of one chaste design, complete, unique and perfect! 
And all these surroundings were in such keeping with the 
harmonious and beautiful life that reigned within, as to 
in;ike one feel, if not to say, " surely here is happiness, 
even on earth !" 

A few years ago, a friend of the family and frequent 
visitor at Ellerslie, was standing alone on a summer's eve, 
leaning, as was his wont, against a column of the southern 
portico and looking tar away, sometimes on mountain. 



23 

wood, and stream, dimly outlined in the distance, and 
sometimes with closed eyelids, gazing into dreamland, 
scarcely knowing whether the objects pictured on his brain 
were fanciful, or real, so imperfect was the line of demar- 
cation between the worlds of fancy and of fact, when a 
light footstep aroused him to consciousness, and a well- 
known voice inquired, why this guest was so often missed 
from the family circle at the evening hour, and found, 
always alone, in that vicinity ? His answer was, " I always 
have the feeling, when I am standing here, alone, that I 
am nearer God, and heaven, than any where else ; for to 
me, this seems too lovely for earth." A moment of silence, 
and then, in tones subdued almost to sadness, came the 
response — " Yes ! all is beautiful, exceedingly ! But 
sometimes the thought comes over me — almost a fear — 
that with all this beauty and loveliness without, harmony 
and peace within, we are having all our portion in this life !" 
Was such a fear well grounded, and did William Kelly, 
in this princely home, bury himself in roses, and with his 
family lead a life of selfish enjoyment? From the very 
first he identified himself with the community in which 
he lived and contributed liberally in money and labor to 
every local improvement, especially to the improvement 
of all the public roads in his vicinity. To all the churches 
of Rhinebeck he was a generous contributor, and owned 
a pew in each, although a regular attendant at his own. 
He did much in his noiseless, unobtrusive way to improve 
the character of common schools by furnishing plans for 
commodious and tasteful school houses, selecting pleasant 
and appropriate sites for them, aiding in their erection and 
planting the grounds around them, visiting the schools, 
encouraging the teachers and instituting rewards for the 
scholars. 

In the school nearest him — a perfect gem, by the way, 
standing on his own estate — not only was this system kept 



24 

up, and very frequent visits made to the school, (in which 
he served as trustee, librarian and accountant, collecting 
and disbursing its funds,) but every reward at the close of 
term, must bear the well known autograph of " William 
Kelly," or it was of no value in the eyes of the children. 
Providence seemed to deny him children of his own, that 
he might pour out his love upon the children of the peo- 
ple. Few men have ever been so loved' — almost wor- 
shipped — by children, as Mr. Kelly. He understood them, 
and his views in regard to educating the tastes and refining 
the manners of children, might well be adopted by gentle- 
men of wealth, and carried out, practically, on large estates, 
somewhat as he carried them out. He reasoned somewhat 
like this — 

" Children have an intuitive love for the beautiful, both 
in nature and in art, The children of the poor have few 
opportunities to gratify this taste, and in the cities, child- 
ren of parents in good circumstances fare very little better, 
in this respect. In what way can this love of the beautiful 
be so easily gratified, and turned to so good account in edu- 
cating their tastes, as by introducing these children to the 
grounds, and flowers, and gardens of Ellerslie "? 

And so, with that perfect system which characterized all 
his business, he arranged pic-nic grounds, in a beautiful 
grove by the river, fitting it up with swings and seats and 
tables and every convenience for the entertainment of a 
steamboat load of children, with their teachers and parents 
and friends, as often as three or four times a week, from 
the end of haying until the close of the warm season. 
Landing at his private wharf, before mentioned, these par- 
ties were met by some person belonging to the estate, 
whose duty it was to conduct them to the pic-nic grounds, 
where they found a spring of water and barrels of ice, and 
an abundance of every thing that could contribute to 
their comfort, 



25 

After enjoying themselves in the groves and woods along 
the river, and emptying their lunch baskets, their teachers 
conducted them through the pleasure grounds, down by 
the lake, over the bridge, through the fruit gardens and 
conservatories, and wherever else they chose to wander, 
in, what seemed to them, a fairy laud. These visits to 
Ellerslie, were looked forward to with the greatest delight, 
from year to year, by thousands of children in Sunday 
schools, day schools and other institutions, permits being 
applied for, months in advance, that Mr. Kelly might so 
arrange the time, as to give each part}^ a different day, and 
the exclusive use of the grounds. 

As a proof of the elevating and refining influences of 
such education, Mr. Kelly stated, a year or two ago, that 
not a single act of vandalism, not even the unauthorized 
plucking of a flower, or the appropriation of one cluster of 
fruit, had ever come to his knowledge ; and that the 
breaking of the handle of a vase, was the only accident 
that had ever occurred on the place, in all the years through 
which the summer visits of these thousands upon thou- 
sands of children had then extended. Was he not right 
in saying, that " he knew of no way in which the expendi- 
ture of a few hundred dollars could produce better results ?" 

But were these gorgeous flowers and luscious fruits grown 
only to gratify the eye of visitors to the orchard houses 
and conservatories, but to be plucked only for the owner's 
pleasure ? The reply comes up from a thousand homes 
made richer and purer by these priceless offerings — from 
the homes of poverty and of plenty — from the sick cham- 
ber of the cottage as of the mansion — from the dwellers 
in the distant city, and along the river, and those homes 
that cluster around Ellerslie — " where are these offerings 
not known ?" 

So too in regard to Mr. Kelly's Short Horn and Jersey 
bloods ; their use, for grading, being almost as free to his 
4 



26 

neighbors, as in his own herd ; Avhile the surplus of his 
pure blood male animals were quite as frequently given 
away, as sold, to those deserving but not wealthy farmers 
who wished to improve their herds, in this, and other 
States. 

It was in the year 1851 that Mr. Kelly became a life 
member of this society and immediately he was known as 
one of its most active members, exhibiting his blooded 
stock at the fairs of the society so long, only, as was need- 
ful that the merits of Short Horn blood should be appre- 
ciated by the public, and then stepped aside, that the lists 
might be more free to professional breeders and stockmen. 
His interest in the society was constant, and from the time 
he entered it, never flagged. In 1852 he became a mem- 
ber of Executive Committee and in 1854 was President of 
the society. His connection with the board as its most 
valued counsellor, and his active participation in all that 
belonged to the society, ceased only with his life: This 
society can never know the extent of its obligations to Mr. 
Kelly for the unceasing vigilance, unrivalled tact and libe- 
ral use of his own time, labor and money, in watching 
over the business details of the Secretary's Oflice during 
the last years of Col. Johnson, who loved him with singu- 
lar devotion, trusted implicitly to his judgment and leaned 
upon his strong arm as upon a father's. 

So admirable were Mr. Kelly's arrangements for busi- 
ness and so perfect the system adopted on his estate, that 
he was able to be absent two or three days every week, 
with occasional trips to other States involving a longer ab- 
sence, without interfering with his home work, and the 
improvements that were continually going on. His fanner, 
with his well defined duties, carried on his own depart- 
ment, reporting to, and receiving his instructions directly 
from Mr. Kelly, to whom he was responsible for the six- 
teen to twenty men under his charge. The chief gardener 



27 

was, in the same manner, responsible to him for the man- 
agement of the home grounds, with all their accessories, 
and the control of ten or twelve men in his employ. So, 
too, of the herdsman, and the dairy farmer, each inde- 
pendent of the others, and receiving orders from the one 
master, to whom they were severally responsible. Last, 
but certainly not least in efficiency and importance, was 
the head coachman, who for nearly twenty years was Mr. 
Kelly's faithful attendant and confidential messenger. 

Sitting one day as Chairman of a Board of Directors in a 
neighboring state where he had been detained longer than 
usual, a package of letters was handed to Mr. Kelly. To 
some questions from his associates, he playfully replied, 
" These are reports from the bureau of the home depart- 
ment." Not quite comprehending him, he explained, 
" that the weekly report must be made to him in person, 
if at home, or forwarded to him if absent, as now," and 
added, " possibly some of you gentlemen might be amused, 
if not instructed, to know how business goes in the mas- 
ter's absence ;" and passed the papers around the table. 
( 1 reatly were these gentlemen surprised at the intelligence, 
system and business character which these reports indi- 
cated. Years of faithful service on the one hand, justice, 
kindness and generosity on the other, made the employees 
at Ellerslie the devoted friends of the employer and his 
family, and as friends they were regarded. 

A year or so before Mr. Kelly's departure for England, 
after having closed the affairs of 1871 and put the finish- 
ing clause to his last will and testament — a model for its 
clearness and simplicity — instead of sending for legal gen- 
tlemen, or wealthy neighbors, he called in three trusted 
friends — his coachman, his gardener and his farmer — to 
witness this important document. 

In our country, where changes in the personnel of a 
large establishment are so frequent, where the servants and 



28 

employees of yesterday, are a hundred miles away to-day, 
there is an indescribable pleasure to those who visit a fa- 
mily year after year, to find the same welcome, not from 
host and hostess only, but beaming from the faces of the 
humbler members of the household, who, with the family 
and its guests, have bowed together around the family altar 
at the offering of the evening sacrifice, through the many, 
many by-gone years. And this it was that added another 
charm to the home at Ellerslie ! 1 

The opening of the Hudson River Railroad effected a 
great change in the habits, business associations and home 
life of residents on the banks of the river, as well as in the 
management and valuation of landed property. As it 
must cut through the whole length of his property, not 
only invading the quiet of his country retreat, but cutting 
off his entire river front, Mr. Kelly was naturally averse 
to the project; but as it would be a great public benefit, 
and the demands of business would soon make it a neces- 
sity, with his usual good sense and business tact he espoused 
the interests of the road, became a large stockholder, gave 
the right of way along the river and made his services to 
the company invaluable. His liberality and eminent ser- 
vices, won for him what the law could not have awarded 
him; for with an earnest desire to injure his property as 
little as possible, and secure to him as many river advan- 
tages as the nature of the ease would admit, his wharfing 
grounds were left undisturbed, and a tunnel was cut 



1 It will be a consolation to those who have so long regarded Ellerslie 
as tin' model resilience of a country gentleman, as well as the highest 
school of instruction for the florisl ami landscape gardener, to know, 
that this magnificenl estate is not to he sold, and that no changes will be 
made in its management save such as are unavoidable, involving, probably 
the entire breaking up of the short Horn herd, a process that has been 
going on for some two or three years — in fact, ever since Mr. Kelly's de- 
clining strength prevented him from giving to his animals the personal 
attention they had before received. 



29 

through the rocky headland that juts into the Hudson, 
away to the west of the mansion. 

And this was an illustration of Mr. Kelly's manner of 
meeting such difficulties. His interests were opposed to 
such a road, not only for the reasons alluded to, and others 
equally obvious, but because he was a heavy stockholder 
in the river steamboats. So soon, however, as it became 
probable. that sufficient money could be raised to build and 
equip such a road, he took hold of it in earnest, and was, 
for thirteen years, a strong power in the management of 
its affairs. Always, if in the carrying out of any business 
scheme in which he was interested opposition was raised 
by other parties, those parties were invited to join himself 
and friends in their enterprise ; if troublesome stock- 
holders were found in a company, they were invited to a 
seat in the board of directors ; if resolutions committing 
an association, in a way that he deemed objectionable, 
were presented, his unvarying courtesy would always secure 
from their mover the privilege of making some slight ver- 
bal change before being put to vote — a change that subse- 
quent examination would show to have entirely eliminated 
the objectionable features. It was this extraordinary 
ability to so incorporate the harmless features, only, of 
discordant resolutions, in the very words of the original, as 
to satisfy their authors and yet record his own opinion, 
which, joined to his sound judgment, broad views, great 
experience and dignified courtesy, left him without a peer 
in boards, councils and deliberative assemblies. 

Another strong feature in Mr. Kelly's character was, 
his singleness of purpose and perfect devotion to the par- 
ticular business, or object for which he might, at any par- 
ticular time, be laboring. His thorough acquaintance 
with all the details of the enterprise, with its materiel and 
personnel — with its liabilities and its assets — with its 
plans for the future and the agencies for carrying them 



30 

forward, would cause a looker on to suppose, that William 
Kelly was making this enterprise the main business and 
specialty of his life. 

To a gentleman visiting Ellerslie — a member of this 
society if you please, knowing him only as thousands knew 
him, — as they met him in our society from year to year — 
to such a person visiting Mr. Kelly at his home, and there 
watching his mode of life for one, two, or even three 
days, perhaps, he seemed a gentleman of elegant leisure 
and literary ease, enjoying his well stored library, luxuriat- 
ing in all the beauty of the unrivalled landscape around 
him, and giving himself no cares for the outer world. The 
guest would be told at the morning meal, perhaps, that 
such, and such, and such plans, for the day's enjoyment 
had been marked out, in any one of which he could join, 
or use his time in any other way that might best please 
him — to which Mr. Kelly would probably add, "I shall 
be obliged to leave you to the ladies for an hour or two 
this morning, unless you prefer taking a seat in my wagon 
for a rough ride over the place." That ride, always a plea- 
sant one, took the visitor among the cattle, to the stork 
barns, the dairy establishment, the farm establishment, the 
various working parties, the fruit and vegetable gardens, 
orchard houses, conservatories and compost grounds, finish- 
ing up, perhaps at the coach house and stables — all show- 
ing Mr. Kelly a thorough master of his home business, 
the motive power and conductor in every project, and 
holding; in his own hands the entire direction of all mat- 
ters on the estate ; — business enough, you say, for any one 
man. 

But, with the closing hours of the day and the retire- 
ment of his guests to their respective chambers, the real 
labors of the host began. Letters of friendship it may be 
well supposed he had his full share of; but look over the 
shoulder of this gentleman of leisure, as he writes, far 



31 

past the midnight hour ! To whom are these piles of busi- 
ness letters addressed, that he is so busily engaged in 
answering ? To the Hon. Wm. Kelly, director in the 
Hudson River Rail Road; in the N. Jersey Steam Boat Com- 
pany — the Peoples' Line of Steam Boats; in the Rhine- 
beck Bank ; in the Mechanics' Bank of New York City ; 
in the New York Life & Trust Co. ; in the World Mutual 
Life Insurance Co. ; in the 8th and 9th Avenue Rail Road 
Companies ; in the Rhinebeck & Connecticut Rail Road 
Co. ; trustee of the Hudson River Insane Asylum ; trustee 
of the Drew Theological Seminary ; President of the Bap- 
tist Educational Commission and of the Baptist Home 
Mission Society ; of the Board of Trustees of Rochester 
University and of Vassar Female College ; Chairman of 
the Executive and Finance Committees of the New York 
State Agricultural College while it existed, and afterwards 
trustee of the Cornell University, in which it was merged. 
All these, with innumerable personal and private trusts as 
executor, administrator and guardian, would seem to be 
all that one man could attend to ; yet his real business, as 
a business man, for many years, has not been named. 

It would scarcely be suspected, even by those who knew 
him well in this society, that Wm. Kelly was one of the 
foremost Iron masters of the day, being largely engaged in 
iron and coal, from Lake Superior to Virginia. To this 
industry Mr. Kelly gave great attention, especially to the 
reduction of the Lake Superior ores at the furnaces in 
Ohio, by means of the black coals of Mahoning Valley, 
and to the manufacture of a superior quality of iron in the 
Broad Top Mountain region of Pennsylvania, At the 
time of his decease he was largely interested in the Iron 
Cliff Company and the Jackson Iron Company of Michigan, 
the Himrod Furnace Company, and the Mahoning Coal 
Company, of Ohio, as also in the Kemble Coal and Iron 
Company of Pennsylvania, 



32 

Of the two companies last named he was President, car- 
rying their busy affairs in his mind and directing their 
energies with as much interest and accuracy as he directed 
the work of his farm. 

Perhaps no man of our day has accomplished so much 
in so quiet and noiseless a manner as William Kelly. Cour- 
teous, social, and conversing freely on almost every topic 
of general interest with those he met daily, and who sup- 
posed they knew him and his affairs very thoroughly, it 
was very rarely indeed that he ever mentioned his own 
connection with any institution, industry, or business of 
any kind, to a person not connected with, or conversant 
with these enterprises. With great self reliance, (and 
consciousness of power which he must have had,) yet with 
a horror of ostentation that made him shrink from the 
public gaze, with a modesty amounting almost to bash- 
fulness, a refined delicacy of feeling that scarcely belongs 
to our sex, he shunned notoriety and avoided public appear- 
ance whenever he could, with any propriety, be excused, 
finding his highest pleasure in working silently for the 
good of his fellow men, whom he recognized as brethren 
of his own blood. 

All these great productive industries in which he was 
concerned, he managed solely as a steward, accountable 
to the Master for all the returns, and for their judicious 
re-investment for the Master's further use. It was not 
from cornering in stocks, nor speculating in gold, nor 
from large interest on untaxed bonds that Mr. Kelly was 
enabled to contribute s<> hugely, and for so many years, to 
educational, religious, benevolent and other objects that 
his judgment approved, but from the legitimate earnings 
of wisely directed industry, which not only gave ample 
returns to the capitalist, but to the workmen employed, 
to the communities built up around their busy establish- 
ments, and to the nation itself. 



To such a man as is here presented, the trickery and ma- 
chinery of politics must, of necessity, be distasteful, and 
though a pronounced, uncompromising democrat of the old 
school, he could not be induced to allow himself to become 
a candidate for office until the autumn of 1855, when his de- 
sire to see certain laws placed on the statute books, caused 
him to run for the State Senate. He was elected by a 
large majority, in a close district, running ahead of his 
ticket by five hundred votes. 

Of his course as a Senator but one opinion was ever 
held, whether by republican or democrat, and it would be 
difficult to say, whether he was more often consulted by 
his political friends, or by their opponents. A case so rare 
can only be accounted for by referring it to that irresisti- 
ble conviction of his perfect fairness which forced itself 
upon the minds of all who knew him. His position and 
standing in the Senate are so clearly defined by the Hon. 
Henry R. Selden, at that time Lieutenant Governor and 
President of the Senate, that no apology is needed for intro- 
ducing a portion of Judge Selden's remarks at the last 
meeting of the alumni of the Rochester University, in 
June last. 

" My personal acquaintance with Mr. Kelly commenced 
in the beginning of 1857, under circumstances somewhat 
peculiar, which may, I hope, excuse what would otherwise 
be unpardonable here, an allusion to myself. Mr. Kelly 
was then a member of the Senate, over which, with no ac- 
quaintance with the practice of legislative bodies, I was 
called to preside. The Senate, in its political character, was 
equally divided, which rendered it possible for political par- 
tisanship to make my position a difficult and unpleasant one, 
and it was not without some anxiety in this respect that I 
entered upon the discharge of my duties. That none of 
my fears were realized was largely due, as I believe, to the 
manliness and generosity of character of Mr. Kelly, and 
5 



34 

to the great, though quiet, control which he exercised over 
the action of his political friends. As a stranger and poli- 
tical opponent I had uo special claims to his kindness, but 
I soon found in him a most valued and faithful friend, and 
the friendship thus commenced suffered no diminution du- 
ring his life. 

" Mr. Kelly was a Senator, worthy of that time-honored 
name, not a mere partisan but a Statesman, possessed of 
perfect independence of judgment — remarkably attentive 
to the duties of his station — and sensitive to the last de- 
gree, in regard to the honor and dignity of the body of 
which he was a most conspicuous member. His political 
convictions were strong, and he maintained his opinions 
with great modesty and gentleness — with unfailing cour- 
tesy towards friends and foes — with the most perfect re- 
spect to opposing opinions — but with invincible firmness. 

"If, with his well balanced mind, he possessed any 
quality in excess, it was that of modesty, which, notwith- 
standing his decision of character, rendered him in a mea- 
sure undemonstrative, even diffident, 'and prevented him 
from holding that very commanding position to which his 
admirable character and great abilities entitled him. 
Among his associates were able and excellent men, but it 
is not too much to say in his behalf that in diligence and 
skill to acquire a perfect understanding of the subject in 
hand whatever it might be, in clearness, liberality and 
comprehensiveness of views, he had no superior, and in 
the qualities of an accomplished gentleman he had no peer. 

" To some extent a partisan, he was always ready to aid 
his party friends in the fair attainment of any party object 
which his judgment approved, but with him the statesman 
was far above the partisan. Under no political party exi- 
gency could he be induced to countenance, much less to 
support, any measure savoring in the Leasl degree, in his 
view, of unfairness or dishonor. 



35 

" When he left the Senate, whatever differences of poli- 
tical opinion might exist between him and other members, 
I am quite sure that he left behind him none but personal 
friends — none who did not regard him, not only with sin- 
cere affection, but with profound respect. His was a char- 
acter without reproach. Whenever, in the progress of the 
great work which this institution has before it, it can send 
forth into the world men like him, taking his life in all its 
aspects, private and public, as a pattern, it may safely pro- 
nounce its work well done. 

" I am aware that I have spoken but coldly of one whose 
heart throbbed always with the warmest and noblest im- 
pulses of human nature. A knowledge of the tenderness 
of sorrow warns me of my inability to touch with sufficient 
delicacy the severed chords of affection which bound him 
to his more intimate friends, and in this presence, where 
there are many who knew him much longer, and whose 
relations to him were far more intimate than mine, it does 
not become- me to say more." 

On leaving the Senate, Mr. Kelly's intention was, to 
have no more to do with political affairs, partly, because 
the associations were often repugnant to his whole being, 
and partly, because of the constantly increasing demands 
upon his time, and energies, for other purposes. But, 
aside from these causes, he had no heart to go into the 
great world except as duty led him. A heavy blow had 
fallen upon him, the previous year, from which he seemed 
never, fully, to recover — the death of his only remaining 
and dearly beloved brother — loved through his childhood, 
loved and guarded in his youth, loved and honored in his 
manhood with ever increasing respect and devotion. 

" It is needless to speak here of Robert Kelly whose 
memory will long be cherished in the city of New York as 
a scholar of rare attainments, a man of ripe judgment, of 
extensive benevolence and of matchless energy. His death 



36 

which occurred on the 29th of April 1856 was felt as a ca- 
lamity to the city which he had so long labored to benefit." 
This paragraph, from one of the papers of that day, may 
be appropriately supplemented by one from the pen of 
President Anderson, pronounced over the remains of our 
friend, as they were about to be laid in the vault by the 
side of that brother's. 

" In all the years," said Dr. Anderson, " since the death 
of his brother Robert, William Kelly seemed to me to bear 
about with him a widowed heart, Their names are so 
connected by their more than fraternal affection, that even 
now, I can not separate them from each other. Their 
unity of aim and feeling was so entire that they have 
seemed to me complements each of the other, forming, 
together, the magnificent proportions of an ideal man. I 
count it one of the selectest blessings of my life that I have 
enjoyed the friendship and I trust, the confidence of Wil- 
liam and Robert Kelly." 

Had it not been for Wm. Kelly's Christian hope, and 
the strong faith by which he walked, rather than by sight, 
the deep sadness of heart that followed his brother's de- 
cease, would have become a settled melancholy; but 
against this feeling he rallied all his energies. The care 
and guardianship of his brother's widow and children, 
was a loving trust that was most faithfully discharged, and 
in these duties he found a mournful solace for his, and 
their loss. So, too, in the fulfilment of plans mutually 
agreed upon to be carried forward by the surviving bro- 
ther, should one be taken away — as in the case of Roch- 
ester University; Robert being President of the Board of 
Trustees, with the understanding, that if he should die 
before the accomplishment of certain purposes, his brother 
William, it' living, should go into the Board of Trustees. 
Wm. Kelly did go into the Board at its next election, and 
was its President from that time until his decease. 



37 

In 1860, the alarming aspect of our public affairs and the 
excited condition of our whole people, filled Mr. Kelly's 
mind with the deepest anxiety, and long before it came, he 
knew that war must come, unless wiser counsels prevailed 
than those put forth by party leaders. Although the course 
pursued by a large portion of his own party was in oppo- 
sition to his own views, yet in the faint hope of being able 
to reconcile some conflicting interests, allay party strife and 
at least to do what he might to bring the moral power of a 
great State to withstand the revolutionary spirit then begin- 
ning to organize and take substantial form, he accepted the 
nomination of the democratic state convention of that year 
for the office of Governor — *a nomination made by accla- 
mation, without an effort on his part, without a pledge, or 
a promise, of any kind whatsoever. But the overwhelm- 
ing strength of the republican party overcame the efforts 
of his friends, retaining Gov. Morgan in office for the next 
two years, and placing Abraham Lincoln in the Presiden- 
tial chair. 

As he had long predicted, the war came, and though he 
never hesitated to say that he regarded the war as unneces- 
sary and easily to have been avoided, yet when it did come, 
he put himself to the work like a true patriot, giving his 
time and his money freely to the cause, aiding to raise 
regiments for the field and following all military move- 
ments with intelligent scrutiny ; keeping himself tho- 
roughly posted by constant correspondence with the best 
informed officers in the field, and through them rather than 
through the press, and the self constituted almoners of a 
nation's bounty, seeking the most judicious objects for the 
contributions of himself and his friends. 

In the month of October, 18G4, the arbitrary arrest of 
the New York State Agents in the city of Washington, 
caused Gov. Seymour to appoint Judge Amasa J. Parker, 
Judge Win. F. Allen and Hon. William Kelly commis- 



38 

missioners to represent the State at Washington and appeal 
to the President for the release of the Agents. They did 
wait upon the President and were by him referred to the 
War Minister. The result is a matter of history, and in a 
paper like this, need not be followed. With his brother 
commissioners, Mr. Kelly returned home, to await the 
progress of events ; well assured in his own mind, from 
what he knew to be correct information in regard to the 
internal affairs of the Confederacy, that it must fall, with 
the first movements of the federal forces in the coming 
spring. These expectations were realized, hostilities 
ceased, and the war ended. 

During the war, Mr. Kelly had kept up correspondence 
with many of his old personal friends in Maryland, in parts of 
Virginia, and in Kentucky, with occasional letters, through 
army channels, to old business friends in other states ; so 
that he was enabled, at an early day, after the cessation of 
hostilities, to communicate with them and obtain informa- 
tion in regard to their condition. Many of them had suf- 
fered greatly during the war, some had been reduced to 
poverty, and almost every one to great pecuniary embar- 
rassments. To lend these suffering ones a helping hand 
and enable them again to resume business, he assumed as 
a Christian duty, and discharged it as he did all other du- 
ties, reaping even here, a rich reward. Could the private 
correspondence, locked up atEllerslie, be spread out before 
Mr. Kelly's intimate friends, they would be astonished at 
the numberless ramifications into which his thoughtful 
benevolence extended, and which never would have been 
known to others but for the grateful letters of acknow- 
ledgement. A single example by way of illustration. 

About the year 1832, or 1833, a certain Colonel in one 
of tin' Cotton States, who had been doing business with the 
Kellys for several years, came to New York and entering 
their counting room, inquired for Mr. Kelly. William 



39 

Kelly, young as lie was, even more youthful in appearance 
than in years, replied " I am Mr. Kelly." " No, no ! I 
want to see the head of the house, your father perhaps — 
Mr. William Kelly. " Th e reply — ' ' Our father, Mr. Robert 
Kelly died in 1825 — I am William Kelly " — utterly aston- 
ished the visitor. " Is it possible that you, young man, 
are the William Kelly I have been corresponding with these 

ten years? IamCol , of " It is needless to say, 

that he was soon satisfied and ever after was a warm friend 
of Mr. Kelly. 

He had been a great sufferer by the war, indeed almost 
ruined ; several of his sons had been killed, he was begin- 
ning to feel the weight of years, and that his condition 
was well nigh hopeless, when a letter reached him with 
words of kindness, and proffers of assistance to resume 
his business. Matters were speedily arranged for him, and 
by close attention to his business, the remaining years of 
his life were passed in comfort, if not in his former afflu- 
ence. To the day of his death, which did not long pre- 
cede that of his friend, the final expression of every letter 
from the sturdy old Colonel was, " William Kelly, I love 
you !" That was enough. It was from the very depths of 
the Colonel's heart! 

With the exception of a seat in the Philadelphia con- 
vention held in August 1866, for the purpose of taking 
measures to re-establish the State Governments of the 
south, and to check the aggressions of the Federal govern- 
ment, Mr. Kelly took no active part in politics after the 
election of Mr. Lincoln, but devoted himself, more and 
more, to educational and philanthropic enterprises, — until 
his failing health in '70 and '71 compelled him to lay many 
of them aside. His eyes, which had been severely taxed 
through all his life, were the first to give way and he was 
obliged to avail himself of the eyes of others. 

Though no child of his own had grown up to call Wil- 



40 

liam Kelly by the sacred name of Father, there were those 
who had been reared in his family, almost from childhood, 
who gave to him such love and reverence as no ties of 
blood could have strengthened. To one of these, whose 
guardian he had been, and whom he styles in his will 
" my dear companion and friend," — he entrusted all his 
affairs that demanded writing. Still Mr. Kelly gained but 
very little. A low fever was upon him during all the sum- 
mer of 1870, which he had not strength to throw off, and 
a general debility of the whole system followed. 

With the spring of 1871 Mr. Kelly seemed to improve — 
but the improvement was more apparent than real. Still 
he moved among his fellow men, whereever his presence 
was needful, and however much he suffered, he gave no 
sign. At the annual meeting of the Board of Trustees of 
Rochester University in June '71, (the last over which Mr. 
Kelly presided,) at the close of a most important session, 
during which he had displayed even more than his usual 
quiet power and guided the deliberations with consummate 
skill, he retired to his own private parlor for a few hours 
of repose, remarking at the same time to a very intimate 
friend, " I fear that it is becoming unsafe to trust me any 
more in positions of responsibility." To the " why ?" of 
his friend, Mr. Kelly replied, " During the last three hours 
of the session, I was utterly unable to see a single person 
in the room, and only identified the speakers by their 
voices." 

A voyage across the Atlantic had been under discussion 
for more than a year, but both Mr. Kelly and his family 
were averse to leaving home, and it was not until late in 
October. 71, that the absolute necessity for getting beyond 
the reach of business calls, to some place where perfect 
quirt and uninterrupted rest could be obtained, prevailed 
over all other considerations. 

On the 15th of November '71 Mr. Kelly sailed for Liver- 



41 

pool, in the Wyoming, accompanied by his wife, his sister 
and one who had grown up in their family as a daughter, 
with his nephew, Mr. Bobert Kelly, who had returned 
from Europe but a few days previous — just in time to ac- 
company his uncle's family and relieve them from all care 
in their journeyings. His friend, and ours, Mr. James 0. 
Sheldon, Ex-President of this Society, with his family, were 
fellow passengers with the Kellys, seeking in a milder 
clime the health denied to Mrs. Sheldon on this side the 
Atlantic. 

The voyage told severely upon Mr. Kelly's strength, but 
after his arrival in England and a little rest, he seemed 
better, and was able to move about a little. But the cold, 
damp fogs of London affected him unfavorably and a 
change became necessary. Leaving Mr. Sheldon in Lon- 
don about the middle of December, the Kellys removed 
to the southern coast of England and took up their resi- 
dence at Torquay, in Devonshire. 

In the pure mild air of that delightful climate, and with 
the home-like comforts of the Belgrave Hotel, Mr. Kelly 
improved, very perceptibly, and his friends, on both sides 
of the ocean, were cheered with the hope of his speedy 
recovery. But the cold fastened upon him in London 
could not be thrown oft* and dangerous symptoms were 
soon developed. He continued to sink, until the night of 
Sunday the 14th of January, 1872, when the sixty-five 
years record of a singularly noble, pure and useful life 
was closed, in perfect peace and in the presence of those 
most near and dear to him. 

Mr. Sheldon, then at Nice, was telegraphed, and with 
his well known kindness hastened to join the family, now 
left desolate. Arrangements were made for their imme- 
diate return to the United States, but owing at first, to cir- 
cumstances beyond their control, and subsequently in 
obedience to medical advice, they remained in England 
G 



42 

until the 11th of April, when they sailed in the Adriatic, 
and arrived in New York on the 21st, bringing with them 
the coffined form, only, of him whose spirit had gone up 
to Him who gave it. 

The funeral was attended at the Tabernacle Baptist 
Church, at two o'clock p. m.,on the 25th of April. Long 
before the hour for service, the aisles of the church were 
thronged by rich and poor ; by the retainers on the estate 
at Ellerslie ; by the many recipients of his bounties in by- 
gone years — some occupying stations of honor and trust, 
others living in comfort and usefulness — by personal and 
by family friends who had come to stand for a moment by 
the coffin and drop a tear, mayhap, over the remains, of 
one so revered and enshrined in their affections. Rev. Dr. 
Win. R. Williams, a life long friend, preached the sermon ; 
a beautiful portraiture of a noble life and as truthful as it 
was beautiful. Rev. Dr. Anderson, President of Rochester 
University, delivered an address, and other distinguished 
clergymen, of whom a large number were present, took 
part in the solemn and touching services. The procession 
moved from the church to the Marble Cemetery in Second 
street, and there deposited, in the family vault, all that was 
mortal of William Kelly. 

The comments of the Press, both when the intelligence 
of his death was received in this country, and at the 
time of his funeral, were uniform in the expression 
of profound respect for the man, while the utterances of 
those who were admitted to his friendship, would appear 
exaggerated to those who only knew him at a distance. 
The words of Prof. Kendrick at the National Baptist Edu- 
cational Convention held in Philadelphia in May last ex- 
pressed this idea, when he said, " I felt in drawing up this 
resolution that any thing which expressed adequately my 
own feelings would seem in a public resolution, improperly 
hyperbolical." 



43 

Do not the hearts of some, yes, many, in this society, 
endorse this further expression of Dr. Kendrick and make 
it their own ? He said " I feel that it was one of the privi- 
leges of my life to be acquainted with Mr. Kelly. I feel 
that it was an honor and a benefit to know him ; to meet 
that genial smile ; to meet that unfailing gentlemanliness 
and urbanity with which you were sure to be always 
greeted, and to come in contact with a character that, in 
every relation, alike public and private, seemed to me to 
be as near perfection as any character with which it has 
been my privilege in life to become acquainted. His home 
was an earthly paradise, alike in its external appointments 
and in the sweet and gentle influence that presided over 
it. From that home radiated and went forth an influence 
in every direction, of which it would be difficult to say 
whether it were more potent or benignant." 

Said Dr. Anderson, as he looked down upon the coffin 
in the Tabernacle church " After more than twenty years 
acquaintance with him around whose remains we have met 
to-day, I can recall no word or action which I would wish 
blotted out or forgotten. This is not the unguarded utte- 
rance of one in whom personal affection has warped and 
weakened the capacity for cool and critical judgment. I 
know that there are many here to-day who have known 
William Kelly longer and more intimately than I, who 
would, from the very depths of the heart join with me in 
this expression." 

Such were the opinions of strong-minded and thought- 
ful men in other walks of life than those in which we met 
him. How well they accord with the feeling and the judg- 
ment of those so long associated with him in this Society, 
the unwonted expressions and overpowering feelings exhi- 
bited at our last annual meeting abundantly testify. If 
Mr. Kelly's long continued and valuable services to this 
Society, and his interest in everything pertaining to rural 



44 

life, have not been specially dwelt upon in this paper, it is 
because the society lias already placed upon its records, in 
the " Transactions for 1871," its appreciation of his exalted 
worth as a man, his enlightened devotion to the great inte- 
rests of agriculture, and its recognition of his great services 
to the Society. 

The especial object for which this paper has been pre- 
pared, is, not to present Mr. Kelly as the successful mer- 
chant ; or as the skillful financier, able to retire with a 
fortune before he was thirty years of age ; not as the master 
of a noble domain on which he resided like a Country Gen- 
tleman of the olden day dispensing a refined and elegant 
hospitality — not, even, to hold him up for admiration, or 
example, as a friend of education, a patron of universities 
and colleges, a worker in, and contributor to, almost every 
religious and benevolent object of the day; but rather to 
show William Kelly, the man, in his pure, unselfish and 
noble simplicity ! 

He was not perfect. Sometimes, even in his manhood, 
the hot Irish blood that coursed in his veins would, for an 
instant, yet only for an instant, suffuse his cheeks ; but, 
you looked again, and it had disappeared — and the blue of 
his eye would be as sweet and sunny as the summer sky 
over which the thunder cloud lias tlitted. Possibly there 
might, sometimes, be an indication of an iron will, but you 
looked at the man with his great, massive brain and open, 
manly countenance, and listened to his fair, unvarnished 
statement — and confessed yourself in error. At home 
and abroad, in the house and by the way, he was ever the 
same dignified, courteous, gentle, social, warm hearted gen- 
tleman. 

What was the secret of William Kelly's power over him- 
self — a [tower that gave him such mastery over others? 
The answer is clear, distinct and simple. William Kelly 
lived, ever, as in a school that was to prepare him tor a 



45 

higher life ; and as in a school the disciple seeks the coun- 
sel and cultivates the friendship of his teacher, so in the 
school of the world, William Kelly early studied the science 
of life under the teachings of the Divine Master, whose 
friendship he faithfully and reverently cultivated and whose 
precepts he accepted with undoubting faith, counting all 
for whom that Master died, his brethren. To him, the in- 
junction of the apostle " honor all men," was a divine com- 
mand and it was one of his strong characteristics, that he 
recognized in the person of the most lowly, that divine 
image which made even the beggar his peer. 

To the divine model he earnestly and uniformly endea- 
vored to conform his own life. With the humility and 
meekness of childhood he sought direction from above con- 
tinually. In the morning, at noon, and in the evening, for 
a little while he was unseen of men, from whose presence 
he had glided away, that he might bow the knee before 
Him who seeth in secret, and when he came forth, it was 
with more than his own strength to do the Master's work. 

Said the Rev. Dr. Williams, his friend and pastor for 
many years — " Could claims to the favor of a holy God 
and to the bliss of heaven rest on morality and beneficence 
and in the wide and systematic usefulness to his fellow 
men, where could we look to see a fairer right established 
to such blessedness than in behalf of William Kelly ? But 
he relied, as he often and earnestly acknowledged, on the 
Redeemer's sacrifice and the efficacy of Christ's finished 
righteousness. In his very last days and to a near member 
of his family he spoke of the error of seeming — to use 
his own emphatic phrase, ' to wish to eke out the righ- 
teousness of Christ by merits of our own.' His trust in 
that Savior's work was confiding, unqualified and entire." 
And thus did our friend lay him down in his last sleep. 

Gentlemen of the Society! You, especially, who are in 
early manhood and in the prime of life ! The fully rounded, 



46 

well-proportioned character of William Kelly, though im- 
perfectly and but partially delineated, is held up for your 
study and imitation. Whatever may be your position in 
society, you can emulate his noble simplicity, his spot- 
less purity, his gentle courtesy, his unswerving integrity 
and his child-like faith. To this State, the example of 
William Kelly as a Man, in all that constitutes true man- 
hood, as a Citizen, in all the multitudinous points through 
which he touched his fellow men, and as a Christian Gen- 
tleman of the fairest type — is a rare legacy and of price- 
less value. It is with the hope that this legacy bequeathed 
to us by our beloved friend may be made available in the 
true education and training of many young men in our 
State, that this memorial is presented to the ISTew York 
State Agricultural Society. 






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